Alpha Hero - Hope Ford Page 0,47

they have fixed the torn ligaments and his fracture was so small it didn’t have to be set. Although he looks bad, he’s going to be okay. I swear as soon as he said it, I started crying and have been sobbing ever since. When I was sitting in the waiting room, waiting on the doctor to come out and talk to me, I could only imagine the worse. I can’t lose him. I can’t. Not because he is my dad’s best friend. Not because he is holding my inheritance. No, it’s because he’s Brian. The man I’ve been in love with for years. I don’t know what I would do without him.

When my dad passed away two years ago, I was eighteen. An adult. But hell, I didn’t feel like it. My mom left us right after I was born and my dad was everything to me. He would have been the first to tell you that he didn’t know what the hell he was doing. But he took to raising a girl like he did everything else. Full speed and with complete devotion. I was his little girl and completely had him wrapped around my finger. But he also raised me to be independent, responsible and to go after what I want. Looking over at Brian, I can’t help but think that he’s the one thing I’ve wanted that I haven’t been brave enough to go after.

Dad started med school a little later in life and he may have been ten years older than Brian, but they were still the best of friends. So much so that when he passed, he put Brian in complete control of my inheritance until I turn twenty-one. I have one more year and then I’m free. Free from having to check in with Brian on everything I do. Not that I care, because I don’t. But all it’s done is put me face to face with the one thing I want more than anything and the one thing I know I’ll never have. It’s a little disheartening to have to face that every day.

I pull the envelope out of my pocket and slowly rip open the seal. Pulling out the documents, I unfold them, holding my breath the whole time. Obviously these forms are important. Brian was in an accident and his car caught fire. The firemen worked hard to keep them safe and one paramedic worked on him until they could get him out. In all that, Shannon, the paramedic, said he repeated my name over and over. He made her promise to give me the envelope with my name on it. The fact that he was so worried about me getting this letter that he gave it to the paramedic tells me how important it is.

I start reading the letter and I gasp when I realize what it is. He’s signed over my inheritance to me early. He’s done what I’ve been begging him to do for the past two years. He’s finally done it. The elation that I thought I would feel is not there. No. In its place is a burning feeling deep in my heart. I rub my hand over my chest, almost like I’m trying to self-soothe. I wanted this. I asked for this. But I can’t help but question why, after two years of begging, did he finally give in?

I look at his bruised face and the cut over his eye. He’s so white, his face almost blends into the stark whiteness of the sheet on the bed. I get up from my seat across the room and walk over to him. I swear he’s almost too big for the bed. His brown hair is short and when I take a closer look, I can see the dried blood in it. My fists clench at my sides because I’m fighting myself from reaching out to him. Without even lifting the sheet, I can picture perfectly in my mind what he looks like under it. He’s built, spending his rare free time running hills and lifting weights. He’s always taken care of himself. I take a deep breath and think about how he’s taken care of me these past two years. He’s done everything for me. It was because of him that I made it through my dad’s death and funeral, and he even helped me pick up the pieces afterwards. And this is how I repay him. That thought has lingered in the back of